Granny basketball

Just ‘cause we’re old, don’t mean we can’t com-pete,
And moving keeps us up u-pon our feet.
We still can pass and guard and shoot and we can e-ven score,
But we just don’t look good na-ked a-ny-more.

–Joyce Kitson, from the song We Just Don’t Look Good Naked Anymore
Granny basketball
Photo from Granny Basketball website

According to the official website of the Granny Basketball League, Inc., granny teams began forming in 2005.  Now, there are “more than 450 players on 41 teams in 10 states:  14 teams in Iowa, 9 in Kansas, 5 in Texas, 3 each in Missouri and Oklahoma, 2 each in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and 1 each in Louisiana, Virginia and California. New teams are continuing to form.” My youngest sister plays on a championship Iowa team. I never knew granny basketball existed until she started playing.

A very good player in high school, my sister started playing granny basketball a few years ago in her 50’s. The team she plays on, the Cedar Rapids Sizzlers, won the 2022 National Granny Basketball Tournament.

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